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In situ beta‐gamma separation algorithm for cost‐effective assessment of radioactive waste resources
Author(s) -
Bae Jun Woo,
Kim Hee Reyoung
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
international journal of energy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.808
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1099-114X
pISSN - 0363-907X
DOI - 10.1002/er.4229
Subject(s) - scintillator , bismuth germanate , gamma ray , radionuclide , radiochemistry , radioactive waste , beta particle , sensitivity (control systems) , bismuth , beta (programming language) , physics , materials science , nuclear physics , chemistry , optics , computer science , detector , engineering , programming language , electronic engineering , metallurgy
Summary A method for discriminating between the counting rates attributable to beta rays and gamma rays was proposed. The method was based on the characterization of the sensitivity ratios of multiple scintillators. Four scintillators were used in this study: 10 and 20‐mm bismuth germanate and plastic scintillators. The sensitivity ratios of two scintillators with different elemental compositions can provide more information related to the energy of the incident photon, and scintillators with different thicknesses can provide a constant parameter which is necessary in the calculation of the beta‐ray and gamma‐ray counting fractions. A mixed source containing 60 Co and 90 Sr was used to estimate the accuracy of the proposed method. The gamma‐ray counting fraction was successfully deduced with a relative error of 2.01%. The method is expected to be used for cost‐effective assessment of radioactive waste resources and conservative estimation of the radioactivity of pure beta‐emitting radionuclides.